CBI chief ‘weakens our hand’ in talks

‘The confederation is back in Project Fear mode, just as it was in the referendum’

BREXITEERS have accused the Confederation of British Industry of weakening the Government’s hand in the EU negotiations by calling for the UK to remain in the customs union.

Leave Means Leave said CBI director general Carolyn Fairbairn’s planned speech at the University of Warwick tomorrow will “guarantee a bad deal” for the UK, claiming the “secretive” confederation “knows little, if anything” about the business world.

Ms Fairbairn is expected to propose that a comprehensive customs union between the UK and the EU “is best for jobs, wages and living standards” after we leave the bloc.

In a move that will anger Eurosceptics, she will call for close alignment with the EU, saying: “Start with the rules we already share, and move on from there. They have been 40 years in the making and support millions of jobs and communities across the UK and Europe.”

Calling for a “good Brexit”, she will insist that both sets of negotiators “revisit red lines, putting economics before politics to protects jobs and communities on both sides of the Channel”.

Dubbing no-deal “an act of great economic self-harm”, she will conclude: “A customs union is part of a practical, real-world answer.”

Richard Tice, co-chairman of Leave Means Leave, accused the CBI of being “back in Project Fear mode, just as it was during the referendum”.

“It is astonishing that the secretive CBI – which refuses to state its fee-paying membership yet claims to be the voice of business – appears to know little, if anything, about the business world.

He added: “Calling for negotiators to ‘revisit red lines’ will guarantee a bad deal for the UK. It will weaken our hand and is the worst strategy the Government could adopt. As anyone in business knows, no deal is better than a bad deal and the Government has accepted that.”

Mr Tice said it was “deeply concerning” that the CBI seems “unable to accept both the democratic vote to leave the EU and the Government’s commitment to leaving the EU – specifically the customs union.

“Only by leaving the customs union can the UK forge new independent trade deals with the rest of the world. Remaining in a customs union with the EU will eliminate major economic benefits of Brexit.

“Remaining in a customs union will handcuff all British businesses to EU red tape even though approximately 90 per cent do not trade with the EU. This is one of the major benefits of leaving.”